History as Fiction - Erin

Throughout the book, there’s never any specification on what type of bug Gregor turns into. In class, we briefly discussed the significance of this ambiguity, how Kafka purposefully didn’t specify and why. Personally, I think it’s because he wants the reader to place their own spin on Gregor. Different people dislike certain insects more than others and the vagueness of the book allows them to put their own fears into the book because, as we discussed, Kafka is really good at capturing feelings that the reader can relate to and distort it. I know many of us in class were thinking of Gregor as a cockroach or some type of beetle, which makes sense due to the large shell that is described in the book. However, throughout the book there are references to Gregor leaving a trail of slime and other…bodily fluids around the room. At first this disgusted me (it still does), but it also made me wonder about what kind of bug Gregor could possibly be. As far as I know, cockroac...

Over the past few days in class, we’ve been discussing the different sides of Jake’s behavior. As a result, I have found myself torn about how to feel about him. In the beginning, I was somewhat sympathetic of him, he seemed to be suffering from his injury but also, I felt bad that he didn’t feel like he and Brett could make it work. The romantic in me was rooting for them just a little bit and I wanted to see them work it out. Now I’m not so sure. With the realization of Jake’s sense of superiority and xenophobia, it makes me more hesitant to support him. In class, we talked about how Jake judges the men that Brett interacts with based on how he stereotypes them, whether it be racially, socially, or religiously. I find it a bit presumptuous of Jake to judge whether or not men are “worthy” of Brett simply upon whether or not they are rich white men who fit into his idea of masculinity. Perhaps this is my modern day view, but to me, it makes Jake look less worthy of ...

             I was somewhat startled and confused by the visceral reaction that Clarissa had to the news of Septimus’ death. Obviously it is upsetting to hear about a death, and even more so a suicide, but Clarissa did not know Septimus, and yet her reaction seemed so personal. The fact that she was so caught up in this that she needed to step away from her hostess duties to collect herself really spoke to me, because Clarissa has always struck me as the type of person who stubbornly holds herself together and maintains the image that all is well until for as long as she can.             The first thought I had was shock that Dr. Bradshaw would be talking about this at a party. My shock was not like Clarissa’s which seemed to be offense of such a topic being discussed at her party, but I was more surprised that he was talking about the death of one of his patients at a party as though it were ...